Active, Prayerful Hope Begins – 3 December 2017 – First Sunday in Advent

The late, beloved Laurence Hull Stookey included in his book Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church (Abingdon, 1996) a list entitled, “Forgetting What You Were Always Taught (or, This Book in a Nutshell).” He meant, in this list, to re-set our expectations of the calendar year, re-think what each season is about, re-orient us to deeper understandings of our life in Christ.

His list includes attention to Advent with these words in Appendix 2 (p. 158):

If you were taught this: Advent is primarily about the past expectation of the coming of Messiah. Consider instead this: Advent is primarily about the future, with the implications for the present.

Stookey’s shift in how we enter into and observe Advent may change your life and that of those with whom you worship. It’s no longer only about a baby long ago (even though it is...) but mostly about a coming time filled with hope because of the Holy One who became flesh (because that did happen).

Where will the emphasis be for your preaching this year?

While we're waiting for Christ's return at the end of time––whenever that may be––we remember his life among us. The season of Advent sharpens that sense of waiting, that expectancy, and moves believers to prepare for his coming. Unlike Lent, a time for repentance and mortification, Advent is a time to refocus our attention, a time to clear away whatever distracts us from our connection with God.

Waiting is hard. Being faithful to what and whom we love is hard, when so much distance and time separate us. But the waiting of believers is not passive. It is more than simply sitting out the passage of days and weeks.

Like John the Baptizer, we who believe have a mission: to proclaim the Lord until he comes again.

Like Mary, we believers have a responsibility: to nourish the word of God that grows daily in our hearts.

Like Joseph, we believers have a challenge: to risk everything and embrace God's command wholeheartedly.

Like Jesus, we are called to pour out our lives in God's service. –– M. D. Ridge

Mark 13:24-37

There are more questions than answers about this long discourse of Jesus. The parable material of the last five verses (vv 33-37) is the only part all lectionaries have in common: "You do not know when the master is coming, so stay awake! Be on guard! Keep a sharp lookout!"

The need to live lives according to clearly established priorities is key whether the end comes in five minutes or five decades. Christians are well warned. The hearers of the Gospel of Mark need to be ready as God's future for them unfolds. Their consolation is God's faithfulness in never abandoning the faithful ones.

Isaiah 64:1-9

The remembrance of past events and the praise of God mark this intercessory prayer. "You have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt," writes the author. Then comes the reminder, "Still, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter. We are the work of your hands" (Isaiah 64:6-7). In this reading two sentiments appear: A clear awareness of sinfulness and a firm assurance that God cannot abandon the faithful.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

This prayer of thanksgiving previews the entire letter. The author is clear that the grace given to the church in Corinth comes from God. Members of the community are therefore not to consider themselves as the originators of the gifts, nor to be jealous of one another's gifts, nor to confuse God's grace with the philosophical- or class-based social status so important to the Corinthians. God calls; God gives to each as needed, and God will have the final victory in Christ Jesus. The church community is to wait in hope for his coming.

M. D. Ridge (1938-2017) was a composer of liturgical music, pastoral musician, editor, and writer for forty-five years. When she offered this reflection for in 2002, she served as music minister for the Church of the Resurrection in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Homily Service 36, no. 1 (2002): 7-16.